Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center showed how much it is the (unpaid?) PR division of Fox News by being angry on its behalf that the burning of the Christmas tree outside its building in New York City could possibly be the subject of mockery. Kristine Marsh huffed in a Dec. 9 post:
On Wednesday, late night hosts found much humor in a man burning down Fox News’ towering Christmas tree outside the Fox News Channel building in Manhattan, early that morning. Thankfully no one was hurt but can you imagine them laughing at a potential arson outside an MSNBC or CNN building?
Wew can imagine Fox News and the MRC laughing heartily if that happened. Marsh continued:
The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert showed his scorn for Fox, sarcastically calling for “thoughts and prayers.” His audience wasn’t any less callous, bursting into laughter at the news that someone set the tree on fire. Colbert joked, “Now, I know what you’re thinking, but the ghost of Hugo Chavez has an alibi.” He added, “Of course, this never would have happened if the tree had a gun. Give a squirrel a gun or something like that.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! Kimmel seemed to delight in the fire, gleefully calling it “some malicious holiday mischief.” “The fire is believed to have started after Fox News' pants caught on fire,” he boasted, before taking some more cheap shots:
Marsh went on to try and push the never-proven conspiracy theory that the fire was "politically motivated":
The liberal comedians also scoffed at the idea the fire could’ve been politically motivated, while attacking former and current Fox hosts as responsible:
[...]
Daily Show host Trevor Noah also mocked the idea the fire could’ve been politically motivated, joking maybe “Santifa” started it.
Actually, the only folks with political motivation here is Fox News, who used the fire as an excuse to peddle right-wing narratives. Marsh tried to politicize it too by playing a little Clinton-bashing whataboutism: "What astonishingly, didn’t make the cut for late night comedy? Hillary Clinton bizarrely reading her would-be acceptance speech from the 2016 election, five years later. You can imagine how much mockery that would’ve received had a Republican done it."
The next day, Curtis Houck complained that a New York Times columnist referenced it: "In her latest column for The New York Times (posted Thursday night), editorial board member Mara Gay used the arson of the Fox News Christmas tree (allegedly committed Wednesday by a homeless man) to mock people leaving New York City due to, among other reasons, the coronavirus pandemic, the far-left local and state governments, rising crime, and subpar schools." He added, "Of course, what Gay failed to mention amid her potshots was that she’s a paid MSNBC contributor, so she naturally has an ax to grind."
Just like Houck has a ax to grind against anyone who would dare criticize the sainted Fox News?
Marsh returned on Dec. 20 to grumble that CNN's Jim Acosta (against whom the MRC has long had an ax to grind) was "smugly making light of the recent case of arson against Fox News’ Christmas tree" by saying he was making homemade Christmas cards with the image of the burning tree but filled inside with articles from CNN. She concluded by sneering: "I'm pretty sure bombarding your relatives with CNN articles as a 'gift' to make them agree with your politics has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus' gift to humanity." of course, neither does the MRC's longstanding jihad against Acosta.
